(Le Mars) — Some Le Mars residents recently received a letter from the city reminding them of the city code regarding snow removal from sidewalks. City code enforcement officer Jason Vacera spoke before the Le Mars City Council on Tuesday about the topic.
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Vacera asked the council that if those sidewalks should be exempt, then the council may want to look at changing the language of the city code.
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Vacera says when he purchased his property twenty years ago, he was told that he wouldn’t need to clean the sidewalk.
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A few residents attended the city council meeting to share their opinions of the letter. Pat Warner says when she first moved into her home 34 years ago, there were no sidewalks. She says each time it snows, the city snow plows push the snow back on to her sidewalk after she has shoveled away the snow.
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Warner says she was told several years ago, her home would be exempt from the city code for snow removal.
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She believes her home should still be exempt from the snow removal. Merlin John Schipper of North Linn Drive also addressed the issue with the city council. He says he has cleaned his sidewalks on numerous occasions, only to have the city push the snow back on to his sidewalk.
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He says he then met City Code Enforcement Officer Jason Vacera. Schipper says he and his neighbors got a laugh when he received a letter indicating he was in violation of the city code for snow removal, when he was the only one in the neighborhood that did remove the snow.]
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The North Linn Drive resident informed the city council he again cleaned his sidewalk only to again have the city snowplow push the snow back on to his walk.
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Schipper informed the council he has a solution to the snow removal problem. He says he will allow people to walk on his lawn.
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Ron Bruscher lives on Evelyn Drive and told the city council he believes people with the sidewalk next to the street should be exempted.
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Bruscher spoke about the many senior citizens that live within the neighborhood, saying how difficult it would be for those seniors to move the snow.
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